Doom - The Fires of Phobos
Chapter 1: Chapter I - Hell Unleashed After launching away from the Deimos moon base, the small escape pod sailed along the orbit of the red planet, a small metallic sliver in the dark vastness of space. On board, some of UAC's top-level researchers watch as Deimos disappears before their eyes. Empty space crawled along the craterous surface, enveloping meter by meter. A final escape pod zooms away from the surface, just before the moon vanished from its orbit. Stunned silence filled the cabin of the pod as Director Will Banks, Susan Carmichael, Victor Kronos and Rupert Nexson stared into the emptiness. "What the hell was that?!" shouts Victor "It's gone, the whole damn thing is gone!" Banks babbles. "Unbelievable" says Nexson softly. The subspace relay began flashing as it began picking up a series of emergency transmissions from Space Marine High Command, UAC Central and others from the Phobos colony. Susan touches the receiver and listened to a transmission from Phobos. The channel opened with an initial blast of static. "To anyone who can hear this..." an explosion is overheard in the call, followed by sizzling electronics "...need immediate rescue" static muffles the voice, "...Repeat, Phobos is under attack". The Director buries his face in his hands. They listened in silence as static overtook the channel until the pods computer interrupted their distressing thoughts. "Video linkup established" it was from Councillor Crawford, overseer of Aerospace operations. "Hello?" He says, "What's going on with the Deimos colony? We've lost contact with all channels, a total black-out!" he rants, the Councillor was wearing a suit with an ambassador's stripe along his chest. They paused in hesitation. "Well?" the Councillor asks impatiently. "Ah...There was a problem with the Gate B teleporter" the Director begins. "It's unleashed something horrible" he says. "The teleporter has triggered an infestation of feral alien creatures and the reason for the blackout is..." he says barely holding composure. "...we just witnessed Deimos disappear" "What?! Have you gone mad?" Crawford asks, shifting in his seat, his brow wrinkled in frustrated disbelief. "What do you mean?" "It was crawling with energy, likely from the teleporter. We literally just watched it vanish from it's orbit" Rupert explains. Councillor Crawford stared grimly. "You mean to tell me that Deimos just blinked out of existence? That the colonies are gone?" the Councillor asks angrily. Rupert exchanges a sharp breath, disbelieving what he was about to say "That is affirmative" he replies, the Councillor's image darkens with anger. "William, do you really think you can feed me this horse shit? Tell me everything you know!" Crawford demands loudly. William's eyes dart from side to side, face flinching nervously. "Well, uh..." he begins, the Councillor's eyes watched unmoved. Nexson watched, knew they were about to say too much. He approaches the console. "We're going to have to get back to you, Councillor" he says, reaching for the disconnect icon. "Rupert, stay away fro-" Crawford angrily shouts before the call was cut. The Director let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Rupert" he says. "Listen, no one can learn about our involvement. If they dig into top level operations then things are only going to get worse for us" Says Nexson. "Right, we've got to get this sorted out" William agrees. "Video linkup requested" the computer chirps. "You can guess who that is" says Victor, the notification repeated as they stood in thought. "The moon is gone, there's nothing to investigate. The only evidence was in the computer logs, they're gone. Our subspace channels are secured, they can't be accessed" reasons Susan. "That's right, except..." says Rupert "...Corporal Revok and Major Mills know we were in Echo Labs when it was locked down" he says grimly. Victor was first to speak after another moment of contemplation. "They don't know that for sure. All they know is that we were on the monorail. We can just say that was misheard" Kronos schemes. "Okay, good. We're going to say we were coming from performing audits at Computer Station K-3 and that this was caused by a maintenance accident. We can't risk exposing the Paranormal Division" states Rupert, his syllables clipped in a serious tone. Location: Phobos, UAC Colony, Central Processing Frightened personnel dash along a winding hall, they could hear hideous snarls getting closer from behind. The three of them were nearing collapse when they reached a long stretch, the Data Storage Vault was at the end of the hall. The hallway was bright, hexagon tiles line the floor and strips of beige cushioning with a leathery surface rounded the circular reinforced walls. Various conduits of gas, water and optical cables ran along the ceiling in a grated cabinet. They reach the Data Vault and Dr. Manning looks into the retina scanner. "Authorization Accepted" echoes the computer voice. Warning lights flanking the vault began flashing brightly, a buzzing alarm filled their ears. Two marines turn a corridor behind them. "Bogies at two O'clock" one shouts. They opened fire on the approaching creatures behind them. Despite the brightness of the hall, the creatures advanced with a cloud of ensuing darkness. A slight quake was heard within the vault and the doors began to slide apart, two other barriers behind it began to unbolt and open. They scrambled through the still widening passage, then look back toward their saviours. The marines were ensued in their duties. "Christ, these are some ugly mothers" "There's so many, where the fuck are they coming from?" they casually exchange as they sprayed fire. They steadily held the rumbling chainguns with skillful expertise. Dr. Diane Stone shouts to the marines, but her words were cut off by the sound of rapidly bending metal. A sealed door next to the marines was quickly ripped from its frame by large dark claws, revealing a towering creature with furious red eyes, loudly stomping the hexagon tiles with hoofed feet. They swing their guns toward the advancing creature, it reached its arm back and a swirl of shadowy, green energy swam along the valleys of its massive hand. They were already firing when it left the demon's hand. They make their final move when they dodge the blob of plasma, the demon had been stomping ever closer. The marines tried to spring backward, but the massive creature grabbed one by the throat with one clawed hand, slamming the other marine into the wall in the process. "Urp...Help...me" manages the marine as the grip tightened. It begins tearing his limbs, accompanied by grotesque sounds of ripping muscle tendons and popping joints, the surface of the passage was dripping in blood. The other marine climbs to his feet and runs toward the vault. The huge creature was already stomping toward him. "Close the doors!" the marine shouts into the vault, tucking his chaingun closely, Dr. Manning taps the command icon. The creature's stomping grew faster, it was a few meters behind as the marine passed the first of the large narrowing doors. He quickly dashes through the passage, the creature was steps behind when Dr. Manning quickly shuts off the vault's sensors. They watch as the creature grips the edges of the final door, the vault budged only minutely against the demon's strength. The vault continued to close, slowly crushing the beast. It roared loudly as bones snapped and blood leaked freely to the floor. The unfeeling vault crushed it between the three barriers as they closed, spewing a stream of bloody matter as it came to a final state. Blood runs down the seams of the vault. Chapter 2: Chapter II - Damage Control The data storage vault was a spacious chamber that was divided by two levels. The upper level held tall mainframes for storing data, the lower level had two rows of long computer stations, flanking a spacious work table with six thrones set around it, several data sheets, a few styluses, and some coffee mugs were left on the table. The room had rounded sloping walls with a streaked metallic finish and no windows, the floor had creamy-white coloured tiles, two circular lamps hung from the ceiling and filled the room with light. Dr. Hugo Manning, Dr. Diane Stone, Dr. Louis Osborne and Major Ivan Daniels stood around the vault door entrance, looking into the spreading pool of blood on the floor. "I...I...I don't know" says Dr. Manning. Major Daniels quickly cranes his neck toward the doctor. "What? What do you mean you don't know?" he asks. "I mean that I have no idea where they came from, these God-awful things just appeared from nowhere" Hugo explains "Bullshit. This has to be some sort of classified project, someone knows something about all this." Daniels says loudly. "Major, I'm a senior-level genetic researcher. Now, there has been some unusual developments coming from recent studies, but nothing like this. Not at all" Diane Stone explains. "Then where are the freaks coming from?" Daniels demands in an accusing tone. "We don't know! I've never seen those things in all my life and I wish I never had" shouts Dr. Manning. "What unusual developments were you referring to exactly, Dr. Stone?" The marine asks slyly. "Well, uh, it's classified" she replies in an irritated tone, Private Daniels scrutinizes her face with undisguised suspicion. "Major, think about it for a minute. If UAC were harbouring this many creatures, the project would have nowhere to hide. Union Aerospace has a hard time keeping secrets around here as it is" Diane explains. Nearby movement catches Major Daniels attention from behind Diane, his eyes went wide. Rippling, moving waves appeared in the empty spacious area, a clawed hand reaches through the energy and the portal flared with green light, a demon steps from the energy and turns its head to lock eyes with the marine. The Major steps around Diane, who was unaware of their visitor, and draws his sidearm with smooth, practiced movement and quickly levels the barrel on the demon's head, steadying the pistol by wrapping his fingers around the handle one digit at a time and fired a single shot. The fired pistol caused a loud bang, the round travelled across the chamber and caught the spiked demon in the head, the force on the bullet sending it sprawling backward to the ground. Location: Mars, Tharsis Bulge, Sinai Planum of Syria-Thaumasia block Mars City Coordinates: 77.92°S, 3.976°W Mars city was a colony made up of several tall interconnected buildings, they were topped with antennas, receiving dishes and tall transmission towers, conduits stretched across the surface of the exterior walls, they had turned a rusted colour, caused by the red planet's battering of furious sandstorms. To the West could be seen the tops of the massive dormant volcanoes, collectively known as Tharsis Montes. The base was situated South of a large crater, West of the Candor Casma, the centre feature of the massive tectonic network of erosion, known as Valles Marineris, the largest visible feature on Mars, larger even than the length of the North American continent. Mars city was comprised of a major Administrative centre, an advanced research complex, a fusion power plant, Space Marine emergency deployment barracks as well as other critical colony facilities. Major Sergeant Martinez was in his office, a disassembled plasma rifle was on his desk. He was leaning back in his comfortable chair, cleaning a plasma distribution emitter with a wire brush. The Sergeant was used to the quiet life on Mars, rarely needing to plan a mission. Mars wasn't perfect, but there was often something exciting going on, either emerging technologies or discoveries made by archeology teams. The Sergeant placed the cleaned emitter on his desk and began rebuilding the rifle. He was reattaching a thin coiled wire from the energization manifold to the micro-reactor when High Command signalled his terminal, he reaches forward and taps the receiver icon. Admiral Samuel Frost appears on the monitor. "Sergeant, I hope your boys are ready for action. We have a situation emerging, but the details are a little sketchy at the moment. We need you and your squad to head up to Phobos, Code Red" explains Frost. "Code Red? What's happening up there?" Martinez asks, eyes fixed on the Admiral as he continued to reassemble the rifle. "I'm afraid that's classified, your team will receive their briefing on route to the moon" "Christ, I'm getting sick of the aerospace industry's constant secrecy" Martinez replies. "Sergeant, this is an emergency!" explains Samuel. "Yeah, I'm sure it is" he says, snapping together the rifle's remaining components, standing to his feet and raising the gun. "Forget it, okay. My team will be underway in under ten minutes" The Admiral stifled an irritated look, "Good luck, Martinez" he says, reaching to close the channel. The Sergeant walks from the office locking the rifles safety and lacing the strap over his shoulder. He marched the spotless corridor, a Union Aerospace official steps beside him. "Hello Sergeant, I need an updated duty roster schedule. Would you mind just-" he begins. "This really isn't a good time, Sean" the Sergeant says, staring ahead unfazed, the corporate official struggling to keep pace. "Well, it's just that this has been needing your attention for about a week" Sean continues. "It's on my list of priorities, alright?" Martinez replies. "Well, if I could just get you to review-" Sean attempts to say, the Sergeant comes to an abrupt stop and stares angrily at the corporate official. "Would you bugger off?!" the Sergeant bellows loudly, several people in the hall turn toward the shouting, but continue their duties, the Sergeant was well known for his short-tempter. Sean stood stunned as Martinez continued along. He reached the squad barracks. "Attention!" he loudly yells as he steps inside, the marines quickly abandon their distractions and scramble to their feet in front of the bunks. They were wearing casual civilian clothes, emphasizing the rarity of deployments. The barracks was a long-stretching cabin with walls of green coloured plating. Sergeant Martinez silently scrutinizes his troops before speaking. "No time for formalities, ladies. There's a situation emerging, we've been ordered to head up to Phobos. Let's go, double time" he orders. A short moment later, the marines were suited in their armor, gripping their helmets along the inner rim, marching into the spacious Hangar Bay and filing into the large waiting space vessel. The name along the side of the ship was the USM Hurricane. They fill the deployment area and buckle into their seats, their plasma rifles were locked in cabinets along the right wall. The ship soon fires its thrusters and slips through the opened air-lock. It flies from the installation close to the ground as it picks up speed. The pilot pulls back the throttle and the ship streaks into the Martian sky. Martinez emerges from the bridge and addresses his troops. "Alright, men. Now that we're off Mars, we can review our briefing" he says, removing a holo-disc from his pocket. He activates the disc, it projects a holographic screen with a slowly spinning symbol of the Space Marine Corps. "Play mission briefing. Authorization: zero-zero-zero-nine-delta" the sergeant says. Admiral Frost's facade appeared in the holographic light. "Hello marines" begins the Admiral "The following is strictly classified" he emphasizes. "We recently received distress calls from Phobos, multiple reports indicate that the base is being invaded by alien creatures. It's unknown just how dangerous they are, but reports lead us to believe that they have the potential to be extremely deadly" Frost explains. "We want your team to head to Phobos and evacuate as many UAC personnel as possible and determine the cause of the invasion. Asses threat and, if necessary, search and destroy" Frost says with a clinical tone. "UAC also wants your team to recover all the main station computer logs and retrieve the data core from the Gate-A teleporter, we have to secure it before one of UAC's competitors get to it first. There is personnel trapped in the Fusion Power plant, the Central Processing facility, as well, the station Administrator and his assistant are somewhere on the station, UAC wants them rescued if possible" states Frost. "Stay alert over there marines. I have complete confidence in you all, good luck" Frost finishes, his image melting away. As they approach Phobos, the view screen displayed only a few escape pods drifting nearby. The moon grows larger as they drew closer, the ship slows as it makes its approach and the pilot began docking maneuvers. It pivots close to the surface, firing short blasts from the thrusters as it made minute corrections. The ship docks with its roof secured to the station's access hatch. Chapter 3: Chapter III - The Possession Martinez and his squad marched through the corridor after passing the air-lock, arriving at the entrance to Alpha Labs. The corridor was undergoing maintenance, it had bare panelling and conduits left hanging open, a step ladder and a pair of toolboxes lay upon the floor. Sergeant Martinez taps a universal control panel on the wall and brings up surveillance footage from within the facility. The small monitor displays groups of frightening creatures moving through the blood splattered corridors. Their bodily features were flooded with the darkest shadows, sharp fangs and glowing red eyes pierce the dark veil. "Sweet Jezebel" Martinez says, taking a step back in shock, "Is that what they're calling 'aliens'? They're more like bloody hell-spawn" Martinez exclaims. "What do you propose, loading these rifles with holy water?" taunts one of the Marines. "I think hot plasma will suffice" he says without a trace of humour. "It looks like they're right behind this barrier… assemble Tango-formation and rifles to full auto. We're not giving them an inch" states Martinez. The squad formed into three columns, rifles pointed at the sealed door, Martinez stood in the front-centre column. "Alright, Marines. We're gonna turn this facility into a fucking ashtray" he says, then levelling his rifle. "Computer, open security barrier 00-2B" Martinez commands. Obediently, the door lifted upward and animalistic snarls and grunts, along with a nauseating aroma, spilled forth from the passage, a blur of movement triggers the Marines and three streams of plasma erupts from the rifles. Sounds of agony in an alien tongue beckoned them forward. "Advance" commands Martinez, still squeezing his rifle's trigger. The aliens were rapidly cooked by plasma, sending out plumes of ash and littering the floor with smoking, sizzling chunks that were crushed into crumbs under the Marines' boots. A short distance from the passage's threshold, the hallway was intersected by another corridor. The rear column Marines flood the adjoining corridors as alien forms continued to fall to dust. The marines on point drop empty energy cell canisters to the ground as they reloaded and resume firing, the canisters impact the floor with hollow clangs. The number of aliens before them dwindled, two marine swing their rifles towards the intersecting hall as Martinez finished off the last of the large-jawed demons before them. The adjoining halls were flooded with the large-jawed stompers and spiked shadowy creatures with a humanoid form. Low-sounding snarls, flashes of sharp fangs and hissing tones filled their senses. The heated, foul aroma of death hung in the station's cycled air. A spiked arm extends its sharp claws from behind an advancing demon, the closest their attackers would get. The Marines' reload, making another chorus of clanking energy cell canisters. The hordes of demons began to shrink as the piles of black chunks and ashes grew. The Marines laid waste to the remaining demons and released their triggers, the sounds of flying plasma was drowned in the emerging silence. Smoke rises from their rifle's energized prongs, the floor littered with scorched chunks. "Christ, what the hell were those things?!" "Those weren't aliens, those were God-damn demons!" the Marines exchange. Demonic grunting came from the corridors beyond. Sergeant Martinez's mind went racing, 'This was a vast number of hostiles. If this is going to be a typical engagement, we could face some serious danger' he thought. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think we need more firepower. Numbers like that could easily overwhelm us in the right conditions" he explains. Martinez reaches into his pack and hands out bundles of energy grenades held together by a clip. "Use the grenades as often as needed, we can't allow them to get that close again" he explains. "Alright, let's move out" he says. The Marines move deeper into the facility, toward the otherworldly sounds. Elsewhere, the station's Chief Administrator Alexander Burvochov, his assistant Pauline Wolfe, the Alpha Labs Director and other UAC executives were in an Administrative Division conference room, a few buildings away from the Alpha Labs facility. The room had grey walls and a lush green carpet that was woven with a simple, industrious design, a window stretched from one side of the long rectangular walls to the other, displaying brilliantly shining stars. A long conference table with several luxurious chairs filled the centre of the room and the ceiling was dotted with circular lamps fitted into the ceiling. They we're watching events unfold on the large holo-monitor with clinical expressions. "There it is, again!" shouts Pauline Wolfe, pointing at the monitor "They're bypassing security barriers" "There's no way! How in the…?" stammers Director Lawson. The Chief Administrator watches in silence, confusion painted upon his face, his arms crossed across his chest. On the monitor another group of aliens appear from a flash of green energy. "Ya v osádke" says the Administrator, emphasizing his surprise in his native Russian tongue. "They can breach Alpha Labs anytime" he says. He reaches for the communication panel in the table and calls the engineers in the Fusion Power Plant. "Hey Chief" says an Engineer on the line, "we've cut the power to the teleporter as you asked. The physical connection is severed, but the damn thing is still running" explains the Engineer. "Yáscik" curses the Administrator. "Cut all power to sector" he commands in his heavy accent. "You got it chief" he says, tapping the control panel in front of him. "Sector-B is now in the dark" "Good, keep off grid unwess authorized by Pauline or myself" he instructs. "Yes, sir" replies the Engineer. Alex closes the channel, then runs a hand along his face in frustration. "Alex," says Director Lawson, "you know that we won't be able to monitor the Teleportation Chamber without power" "Well, I can't justify to myself sitting here doing nothing. I don't know how or why, but something is powering that test chamber" Alexander says loudly. "Hmm, I suppose that's sound reasoning" the Director replies. "I seriously hope Marines can deal with this, losing Alpha would be enormous loss" Alex says. A loud scream of pain erupts in the conference room from Senior Analyst Portman. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?" shouts Director Lawson. Alexander turns from the holo-monitor to see Pauline Wolfe wielding the knife she keeps hidden in her tall boots, Senior Analyst Portman was taking his final tortured breaths, freely oozing knife wounds upon his chest and face, his right eye protruded grotesquely from the attack. He lay struggling to breath as Pauline continued to attack in a blur of fast, delicate movement. She moved from one victim to the next, slicing with wide, deliberate sweeps. Alex watched her approach the Director with dark, menacing eyes, her blade dripping with blood. Director Lawson tries to evade by moving to the opposite, far side of the conference table, she leaps onto the table and tackles the Director, pinning him against the wall and rapidly sinks the blade into his chest. The conference room was suddenly filled with death. The possessed Pauline had killed six UAC executives, their pools of blood were still growing and staining the fine carpet, the walls, table and chairs were speckled with red droplets. The Administrator was frozen from shock. "Jebat' " he swears softly, "Pauline, what have you done?" Burvochov manages. After continuing her slaughter for a few more seconds, she casually turns her glowing eyes toward Alex, gently rolling her neck playfully. She rises from before the dying Director, absently extracting the knife with the motion as she stood. Pauline's face was drenched in shadows, she steps toward the Administrator with delicate steps, seductively swaying her hips, her eyes rapidly shifting in brightness and tone. Alex staggers back until his back was against the wall as the former-human stalked closer. The Administrator was awestruck by the intensity on her face, the odour of nearby pools of blood assaulting his senses, his mind began to spin as clouds filled the edges of his vision. Pauline grins devilishly as she licks the blood from the blade. Alex was overtaken by her shifting hypnotic eyes, his mind slipped into darkness. Chapter 4: Chapter IV - System Interruption Glowing jewels ran down the corridor, the plasma strikes the distant approaching invaders. "Fire in the hole" shouts a marine. The screeching grenade arched through the air and decimates a horde of aliens approaching from behind. Major Sargent Martinez was providing intel to Admiral Frost over a ultra frequency transmitter. "Mobility has been impaired. Our projected ETA is ten minutes, cause being the sheer magnitude of these creatures" he explains loudly. "Intruders are a joint force of multiple alien species. Repeat. Intruders are a joint force of multiple alien species" "Report received and understood. Stand-by" The transmitter crackles. The shooting stops and the area fell silent. "Area secure" reports a marine. "Advance" commands Martinez. Alex and Pauline moved through the halls of the experimental weapons labs, whispering to each other in an alien tongue, Pauline affectionately strokes the coarse skin of passing demons. They came to a locked laboratory and Alex looks into the retina scanner. "Authorization Accepted. Welcome, Chief Administrator" says the computer voice. The door whooshed open, expelling a gasp of sterile smelling air. The pair walk inside. In the centre of the lab was a large, square work table littered with various parts. Locked cabinets along the walls held prototype weapons and shelves of data sheets, two holo-terminals flanked each other from the middle of the room and a left-hand passage led to a small workshop. Looming before them was another door, they approach it and walk inside. A large weapon was stored within. The artificial light glitters against the grey, polished surface. It had a pair of shoulder mounts on the back and a large, wide barrel on the front. Alex unlocks the armament from its mounting. He picks it up and inserts an energy cell pack, the BFG 9000 hums to life. Outside the base, in the twilight of space, a corporate vessel cuts its blazing thrusters and descends upon another of the Deimos escape pods. The ship slows to a stop and a clawed robotic arm extends from a hatch, it grips the pod and draws it into the spacious hanger bay. It was placed among other escape pods, resting on one of several flat plasma fields uniformly layered in the hangar. The Deimos researchers walk from the pod and a holographic attendant led them to the elevator. They walked through the large doors, leading to the rest of the ship's interior. Another hologram greets them. "Welcome aboard the CSV Navigator" it says "Accommodations are being prepared for you at this time. In the meantime, the Executive's Common Area will have everything you may need" it explains. "Councillor Crawford has scheduled a meeting with Dr. Nexson and Director Banks. Please make your way to Conference Room 7-B at 1830 hours" it finishes. The two men exchange stern glances. The researchers move into the adjoining hallway, walking swiftly among heavy pedestrian traffic. "Rupert, we need to find a sub-space terminal" says Will. Banks and Nexson enter a nearby Sub-Space Parlour and step into a booth, pulling the privacy screen closed behind them. Banks entered a six digit code into the touchpad and placed the call. They stood waiting as the signal was relayed over a sub-orbital receiver. "Video uplink established" chimed the terminal. The video call opened, a finely dressed man with dark eyes and a stone-cold expression filled the holo-monitor. "Hello Doctor, Director" the man says, "I'm glad to see you made it off-station. I can hardly believe these reports, this is going to become immensely costly" he states. "You're correct about that," agrees Banks, releasing a long breath. "I know you have many questions about the incident, but right now, we are being persued by authorities. We need immediate diplomatic protection" Banks quickly explains. "Relax" the man says in a deep, monotone voice. "Our protocols are already being carried out. You're protected" he assures them. "This is a black-eye for the Paranormal Division, but many of us think there is a good chance that we can grasp success from the jaws of defeat" he says with a sinister grin. "We want you to do us a favour and we're not taking 'no' for an answer" The Fusion Power Plant was throbbing with activity. The walls held flat white panels, small repair robots moved along the floor, occasionally popping into and out of small doors leading to a delivery chute that led to all areas of the plant. "Condition: Alert" the female computer voice repeated softly. A surplus of technicians and engineers stood around supervisors as they received their rapidly spoken emergency instructions and assignments. Space Marines were spread throughout the facility. The Power-Plant was under an extreme alert condition because their reactor specialists were performing a delicate experiment when the invasion occurred. Chief Engineer Rivera and Engineer Clark were in the Reactor Control Room, studying the anomalous energy readings on the holo-monitor, behind the view screen was the MCR-700 Reactor. They were sitting in high-backed chairs. "Gamma radiation in the core is rising" the engineer utters, pointing to a climbing digital gage on the monitor. "Let's try Alpha-6 emission configuration on Module-B" Clark suggests. "Proceed" replies Rivera. The Engineer calmly enters the command into the terminal. "That doesn't seem to be having any effect, reduce the master density controller by 9 degrees" Rivera instructs. Troublingly, the Gamma radiation and temperature continued to climb. "This can't be right" Rivera exclaims, "this climb shouldn't be continuing" "It seems like something is interfering with the operation" Clark suggests. "At this point, it wouldn't surprise me. We need to evacuate the station with everyone else, we're going to have to program the maintenance robots to monitor the reactor and regularly vent the radiation, or this station will have an alien invasion and a flood of toxic radiation to contend with" says Rivera. They issued new commands to the maintenance robots and left the control room. They walked a nearby humming corridor, electrical conduits and coolant pipes stretched along the walls. "If we lose that reactor, they can forget about saving this station anytime soon" comments Rivera. "We've never had issues like these with the MCR-700 before, whatever is causing those spikes, it's a mystery to me" replies Clark. "It shouldn't be a big problem. As long as the maintenance robots-" Rivera is startled by the sudden opening of an intersecting door. The hydraulic sigh sounded as the door raised, revealing the Chief Administrator and his assistant. The Chief Administrator stared back with dark, unforgiving eyes, his BFG 9000 was loudly charging in his hands. The two men looked down at the glowing green barrel and gasped in horror, they dodged to evade the round. Clark was caught by the destructive blow and suffered instant demolecularization, the bio energy continued into the wall of the corridor, severing several critical conduits and making a large crater in the wall. The Chief Engineer hit the ground, clothing burned by the BFG's blast, he stared dumbstruck at the brutal murder of his colleague. "Alarm: power failure detected. Emergency power is now online" echoes the station computer as red emergency lights flooded the corridor. The pair of Former Humans stepped from the passage and looked down at their prey, the engineer looks into the pure black eyes and fear jolted him to his feet. He made a stumbling attempt to escape in the other direction, panting loudly. From behind he heard the build-up of the BFG 9000. He was soon overtaken by green energy and fell to the ground in a pile of blackened ash. Chapter 5: Chapter V - The Fall AUTOMATED EMERGENCY COMMAND IS NOW ONLINE POWER INTERRUPTION DETECTED EMERGENCY POWER STATUS: ONLINE SENDING REQUEST TO CENTRAL COMPUTER REQUEST:0Z01329 APPROVED COMMAND: LAUNCH SEQUENCE 0090 SEQUENCE HAS BEGUN; ALL SYSTEMS OK SCANNING MODE IN PROGRESS SUBJECT STATUS: NORMAL SUSPENDED ANIMATION STATUS: STABLE EVALUATING COMMAND: LAUNCH SEQUENCE 0099 SUBJECT REVIVAL IS NOW IN PROGRESS Aboard the CSV Navigator, William Banks and Rupert Nexson were entering the spacious atrium, coming back from the Sub-Space Parlour. Several store fronts managed by holographic staff lined the curved walls, offering cuisine and entertainment. The centre of the area had a large, bustling seating area. Quiet, casual chatter accompanied by light violin music filled the air. The two men strode at a brisk pace. "Those repulsive, treacherous cockroaches! Their insanity is going to get us all killed" Nexson growls, exclaiming his indignation. "I'm sorry, Rupert. They have an airtight case" comments Banks with a sunken expression. They enter the spacious seating area and join Kronos and Carmichael at a table hugged with booth seating. "What's happening? Did you reach them?" Carmichael asks as they sank into the chestnut coloured cushions. "Yes, we are protected for now. However, the Paranormal Division has issued us an assignment" William Banks begins to explain with chords of renewed distress in his voice. "They want us to head to Phobos, back into the hornets nest, and secure specimens of the alien intruders for scientific study" he explains quietly. "Is that even possible?" queries Carmichael. "I'm sure that your estimation is as good as mine" Banks replies. "It's suicide" exclaims Kronos. "If we refuse to cooperate, then our colleagues will throw us to the wolves. This is the only way for the Paranormal Division to save face with its private investors" explains Rupert. Kronos runs his palm along his face. "When do we leave?" asks Susan. "Immediately" states Nexson. "We have been authorized to requisition a ship from the Navigator. We are to rendezvous with another vessel where we will get more information" he explains. "Indeed. We have to get our affairs settled and leave at once" adds Banks. Kronos and Carmichael shared the same look of concern. "This is going to be extremely dangerous, as you've no doubt gathered, says Nexson, but we're going to be far better equipped this time around" "Emergency alert: reactor core failure" wailed the station's public address system. The marines were in the Computer Lab junction, getting close the Central Processing Facility. "Well, that's a bloody peach! What are we doing now?" asks a marine, as they stood in glow of the red emergency lights. "Dammit! This mission is falling apart!" Martinez states, he removes his holo-disc and accesses the base's reactor maintenance monitor. The disc obediently displayed the maintenance monitor for the MCR-700 reactor. The core was glowing red, notifications showed damage reports to critical hardware and core temperature warnings. He takes a moment to take in the exact extent of the damages. "The reactor is finished. We have to complete what we can of this mission and abort, because the radiation will eventually leak" he explained. "We need to pick up the pace, let's move" They came to a sealed air-lock door, Martinez passes his armour's embedded ID chip over the scanning plate. "Authorization accepted. Welcome to the Central Processing Facility" the terminal chirps as the huge doors split and disappeared into the floor and ceiling. The beams of their flashlights reveal a dark wide hallway with private offices along the walls. The offices had glass walls and doors, holding a couple chairs, a spotless desk and a cabinet, the office walls were creamy white. The hall had a long carpet with white trimmed edges and a blue pigment between. Continuing their way to the Data Storage Vault, they travelled the hall for some time when a shadowy form wearing a lab coat emerged from a office and quickly disappeared into a wide intersecting passage. "Hey, you! Stop!" Martinez shouts into the distance, but a vacuum of silence was the only reply. Martinez broke the eerie silence, "I'm not seeing things, am I?" he asks. "Negative, sir. I saw it, too" replies a marine. The marines pursue the figure and stop at the passage. Martinez grabs a electronic flare, switches it on and arcs it into the dark area before them. The brilliant illumination of the flare reveals several figures stalking the spacious area. The darkened figures slowly turn their heads toward the squad, revealing their pitch black eyes. "What in tarnation?" Martinez exclaims with notes of disbelief in his voice. A whizzing piece of metal flies past Martinez's head. The former humans stepped towards the marines, they were wielding glistening surgical knives. Another thrown knife spins towards them and Martinez shoots it out of the air with a quick burst, which also strikes a former human. The other possessed scientists made no reaction to their colleague's demise. The plasma burned through its skull and it collapsed to the ground. "Sarge, they're all fucked up" a marine exclaims in disbelief. "Stop! Drop your weapons, now!" Martinez commands. The former humans staggered closer. "This is a rescue operation" Martinez shouts, alien groaning emerged from the group. "Mortals" came a dry, tortured voice. Alarm grips Martinez's mind as a former humans full grotesque facade breaks the red coloured emergency lights. Its face was a warped menacing satire, madness was bursting from its eyes. "Alright, forget this, these freaks are toast. Open fire" he says coldly. His squad voiced no protest. Plasma illuminated the wide corridor, the flashes of light reveals blood splatter dripping from the walls and torn corpses bleeding out on the floor. They burned gaping smouldering wounds into the former scientists and they collapsed into smoking twisted heaps. Martinez reaches for his ultra-frequency transmitter and finds the display black and unresponsive. He stared dumbstruck at the broken transmitter. This was never supposed to be a possibility, not with present-day military hardware. A marine screams and hits the floor, then is dragged into the darkness by an invisible force. Green energy erupts and a horde of tall, hulking aliens teleport around the marines. Time seemed to slow as Martinez took in the malevolent sight. Aliens surrounded them, and they were much larger than any they had encountered before. "Fire" he commands loudly, more aliens were teleporting into the area before he could finish voicing the single-syllable command. The marines devastated the first wave and blobs of acid were hurled by the next. Another wave of teleporting demons arrives, the rasping energetic sound was like that of a nail in their coffins, a sinister moaning voice is heard over the deadly exchange. "Spread out" Martinez commands. The marines spring to evade and quickly resume firing. A blob of searing acid smacks into a squad mate's helmet and begins devouring the surface and burns straight through the marine's skull. The screaming was horrific, but the rest of the marines would face the same fate if they dared yield from their combat. The station's modual sector began groaning from some force applying stress to the structure. The demons drew closer, a perimeter of smoking charred pieces and ash were all that separated them from the marines. Large jawed demons charged from the latest teleporting arrivals and demanded priority as their sharp fangs drew closer. They fired straight through the demons and burned through the Hell Knights behind them. "Throw your grenades" Martinez commands. Holding their triggers, they each threw a grenade into the air, followed by another volley. Loud blasts sends severed alien limbs sailing. The area was clearing, but more demons were charging. Behind them, a completely foreign abomination appeared from the green energy. Two tall skeletal demons with shoulder-mounted hardware spawned, they lock their eyes on the squad of marines and screech loudly. They fired a dual projectile from their shoulder-mounts, the last thing Martinez would remember is being caught in the explosion when the rockets struck their streams of plasma. Chapter 6: Chapter VI - Forethought In the Data Storage vault, Dr. Manning, Dr. Osborne, and Dr. Stone were crouched beneath desks as the marine continued to fire on the teleporting intruders. "You're sure that they're coming?" Diane asks. "All I could find out is that the station computer registered the arrival of the rescue team" Louis replies. "Aren't we able to monitor their progress?" she presses. "I tried, I don't have high enough authorization" he explains. "We can't tell if they're in trouble?" Hugo asks. "No, we can't" "This is bad! We're stuck in here and the reactor is going to leak in a few hours, and finding a functional escape pod could take longer than we'd like" Hugo laments. Shots continued to ring out as more aliens appeared from flashes of green energy. The Major's pistol ammunition was soon spent as the flashes of portal energy began to ramp up. He drops the useless pistol. Looking away from the intruders only for a moment as he bent to reach for the chain-gun, he lifts the weapon as his eyes fell upon a sizeable mob of demons. The barrels of his chain-gun were turning. He fired a long stream, decimating the hoard, then rapidly shooting small bursts on each target as it teleported into the sealed chamber. Beads of sweat began to spill from his brow as he swung the armament from target to target. Blooms of erupting gore cascades through the air, the stench of death was overwhelming. Major Daniels let out an enraged chord when he saw the demons spawning ever faster. Location: Phobos, Level 3 of Alpha Labs Division, Bio-Medical Laboratory R7 The lab was dark and silent with a large and spotless interior. Three examination tables filled the centre of the room, a wheeled scanning apparatus rests nearby, a pair of tall medical cabinets were against the walls. A sealed door led to a short junction ending in a secured observation room. Metallic tiles line the walls and floors of the modestly sized room, the ceiling was dotted with small lamps, and held a robotic arm. The walls housed a pair of monitors displaying the words "System Failure." A large capsule sat in the centre of the room. A harshly emotionless voice of the Artificially Intelligent Automated Command System boomed. "Subject stasis revival is now complete. Scanning" The diagnosis system silently checks the subject's vitals "Subject stasis: good Stasis procedure: successful. Pod opening" A hermetic seal is released and a curtain of smokey condensed air drifts from the seam. The robotic arm came to life and locked into a port on the surface of the pod and lifts the lid away. He was wearing a special suit designed for subjects of artificial hibernation. He wakes from stasis, lifts himself from the capsule and examines his surroundings. Red lighting illuminated the room, emergency notifications scrolled across the wall-mounted monitors, he hears a distant station notification. "Alarm: Critical. Reactor failure" it wailed. The stasis pod dominated the room, it was sapphire, framed with chrome lining and had rounded edges. Thick tubes and cables converged on the pod leading from outside the walls. The marine could recall most of his memories, but couldn't come up with his name, or any identity, nor could he recall how he came to be placed in the pod. Through an adjacent passage he sees a suit of space marine armour lying on the shelves of a wide open security locker. He walks over to it and picks up the helmet, he found it strikingly familiar. He examines the call number but finds that it had been removed, only the scratches from a crude grinding job remained. The marine takes the armour and slips it on, hiding behind was a pistol and magazine. He picks it up and looks it over, more waves of familiarity washed over him. This was his pistol, he was sure of it, but again, the sidearm's serial number had been ground away. The marine walks through the bio-med lab and into the adjoining hallway, where he stumbled upon what would be the first of many gruesome scenes. A trio of scientists were lying dead in pools of blood, huge claw wounds marred their still flesh. One scientist had been torn in half, the head and shoulders were lying at the far end of the short hall, the lower half rested on the floor beside the marine's feet. Another scientist with a critical spinal injury was twitching horribly. Splashes of blood coated the walls and floor of the beige coloured hall. A over-turned sample cart sat nearby, its contents spilled upon the ground. The sounds of grunting and heavy-footed stomping in the distance was quickly noticed. Without any idea what he would encounter, the marine heads toward the sector's main corridor. On the CSV Navigator, the surviving top-level researchers from the doomed Demios base had rendezvoused with Dr. Allan Mason who was also roped into their secret mission. He was previously on a separate medical escape pod with Dr. Leonard Philips. The four of them were in a luxurious Spec-5 vessel in the Navigator's hangar bay parked on a plasma docking field, they had little trouble obtaining it from the crew. Nexson was programming the auto-pilot while others performed equipment checks for a fifth time or explored the cramped cabin. "Okay, the auto-map looks good. We're locked in" Nexson announces. "Undock vessel and fire maneuvering thrusters" Dr. Banks commands. The ship's clamps unlock and the thrusters lift the vessel above the plasma surface. Warning lights blazed as the ship slowly moves toward the widening airlock doors. It reaches open space and the main propulsion sails it into the star speckled darkness. Chapter 7: Chapter VII - Wrath of the Marine The recently revived Marine moved fast, his instincts were sending him some previously unknown signals and seemed to imply lots of trouble, but he couldn't seem to slow himself down. Any doubt he had in his mind was silenced and new focus took hold. He knew some dark evil had invaded the base and that he had what it would take to strike it down. With complete confidence, he shoots out his arm and grabs a brown spiked demon by its throat. He had know it was approaching for some time and that more lay ahead. The Marine looks into its dimming angry eyes, his grip continuing to close, crushing it into crumbs. He then slams it nose-first into the closest wall. Further along the path, he sees a group of imps approaching. He raises his sidearm, with new-found focus he shoots them down with pinpoint accuracy. A single imp remained and closed in, smartly dodging the shots fired. The Marine closed his hand into a fist and socked the imp right in the face, it collapsed with a crater in its skull. At that time, the Maine hears a notification about weapons fire occurring in the fusion power plant. Realizing the power plant was a short distance away, he decides to head there and help whatever survivors he can find to escape. He turns toward the direction of the plant, fighting demons as he went. Arriving at the entrance a gathering of possessed members of station security staggered before the large door, absently lugging their pistols and shotguns. They lock their dark eyes with the Marine's and fired their weapons. The Marine returned fire and swiftly rolled to evade. "Die" the former human moaned. The Marine easily dodges more of their bullets and proceeds to quickly empty the magazine, the former humans caught the rounds and hit the floor. The Marine approaches the large door, the dead zombiemen laid before him, bleeding out. He reaches down and pulls a shotgun dripping in blood from a zombieman's dying grip. He pulls the manual door release and it slowly raises into the ceiling. He hears demonic grunting and assault rifle fire coming from within. He pumps the forend of his shotgun, a spent shell flies out and drops to the ground. Inside the power plant, a group of engineers led by a space marine walked through the outer ring of the facility, they came upon yet another spent escape pod module. "Damn" swears the Marine "This one's gone, too. There must be some pods left around here, somewhere" They run to the next pod module. "What the fuck is this?" An Engineer says, surprised. The escape pod had been destroyed, turned into a smouldering, spark-shooting crater. "This looks like it was done with an energy weapon" another Engineer says clinically. "Who the hell would do this?" The Marine asks. "Help!" sounded a desperate cry from further along the circular ring, accompanied by the sound of fast foot falls. A trio of engineers were running towards them. A blob of green energy approached them from behind and detonates on contact, graphically consuming the engineers, leaving only dust behind. The group of survivors was shocked. "Holy shit!" One shouts. The corrupted Chief Administrator steps from the shadows, grinning madly and gripping the BFG 9000. The survivors ran for their lives, the Marine fired his pistol in retreat. The former Administrator's chuckle echoes through the rounded hall. The Marine moved through the short hall, a security office was through a door on the left, large-jawed demons blocked the path into the plant. The Marine steps toward the nearest demon and shoots at the optimal distance, dropping it quickly and targets the next. He shoots shell after shell, tearing through the revolting hell-spawn one at a time with blooms of blood coating the rounded walls. The Marine clears his way to the Staging Bay. The titanic area was rimmed with seven levels of walkways connected by steel staircases, a pair of massive anti-gravity cranes were attached to the ceiling, different levels held crates, hover-lifts and tool cases, on the lowest level there were two large vats of bubbling toxic fluid. The massive arena was roaring with assault rifle and chaingun fire that sprayed wildly in all directions. A determined force of marines and engineers were fighting for their lives. Imps and demons dominated the area, along with revolting demonic blobs that float through the air, and more demons were appearing from nowhere, teleporting from flaring green energy. The Marine leaps over the guard rail, drops from above and slams into a demon, shattering its bones in an instant. An angry mob of monsters had encircled him, staring with countless pairs of red eyes. The first demon stepped toward him and the carnage began. The Marine wound up his closed fist and punched the imp square in the chest, the force shooting it back and striking the demons behind it. He made a few more quick strikes in effective succession before the power of his blows began to spike. He finds the strength to begin ripping limbs from the demons in progressively more efficient and faster maneuvers, arms and heads were torn and discarded, the cries of tortured demons briefly filled the air. The survivor's gunfire rained down on demons around the Marine from above. The Marine aims his shotgun at the nearest cacodemon and fired a few shells, sending it to the ground with a messy impact. "Hey, you!" sounds a voice from above. "Catch!" A survivor drops a assault rifle to the Marine. The standard issue of the marine corp, the SSAR-40 spun slightly through the air and glistens brightly against the artificial light. He smoothly catches the rifle and puts it to efficient use. Chapter 8: Chapter VIII - Empowered Escape The Staging Bay raged with combat, blobs of plasma and gunfire sailed through the air as demons continued to appear from portals. The Marine was shooting in two directions at once, holding the shotgun and assault rifle in each hand, blasting holes into Imps and Demons with ease. A Security Marine on a higher landing suddenly becomes possessed, it took the strength of every nearby survivor to tackle it and push it from the railing. The former human falls and splashes into a toxic waste tank and quickly dissolved into the green corrosive sludge. The Marine climbs to the next level above with little effort and begins mowing down the hordes amassed there. He sensed a large-jawed demon closing in from behind. He pivots slightly, tightly swings his shotgun toward it and fires two rounds. The Demon collapses with a dying grunt. A Hell Baron suddenly materialized on the main level, roaring fiercely. A blob of green plasma closely zips past the Marine. The Baron took a few steps toward him and reached its arm back to throw another volley when almost every survivor opened fire on the hulking demon. The beast roared with fury and hurled the searing mass toward the Marine, it roared past as he narrowly shifts out of its path. The Baron was staggering against the barrage but still standing until a screeching grenade rolled to a rest at the demon's hoofs and explodes. The blast severs the Baron's midsection and injures some nearby Imps, the alien splattered to the ground with its unusual organs spilling onto the cold floor. The Marine was starting to clear the level of invaders under a constant onslaught, but there were still several Cacodemon attacking throughout the Staging Bay. He climbs higher and gets into range of the bloated abominations. The first shotgun blast went up what passed for the demon's ass. Then crossing to the next demon, he presses the barrel against its single eye. Blue blood splashed over the walkway, the Cacos tumbled and splattered to the ground. A blob of blue plasma hurls toward him from a demon at the far end of the walkway, he dodges by briefly bounding onto the handrail. He approaches firing both weapons at once, the Cacodemon hissed angrily and sank into a bloody deflated mass. He then stomps up the adjoining metal staircase where a squad of survivors was holding out. They turn their heads and see him approaching. A Security Marine was continuing to bark orders, an Engineer wades through the squad and greets him. "Amazing work, marine" he states, thankfully. "I don't know if we would have been able to hold out much longer" he says, as he resumed firing. "I'm Takeshi, I used to be a technical specialist around here. Who are you?" Unable to come up with an answer, the Marine remains silent. "How did all this happen?" he returns. "Something to do with the teleporter, but that thing is way beyond my security clearance" Takeshi says in a mild Japanese accent. "From what I've heard, the damn thing just started running on its own, these freaks started pouring through and they couldn't shut it down" he loudly explains, picking off possessed humans one at a time, the sound of exploding grenades echoed from below. "We sent a scouting party to find some escape pods, I hope we don't have to send another" About ten minutes passed when they noticed two of their scouts approach. They jogged toward the squad shouting, "We found a bunch of pods! Sector-H has full suites of escape pods on all levels" they shout their report over the continuing gunfire. "The rest of our team didn't make it" "Excellent work. I'm sure your team did all they could" Takeshi says. "You've just saved our asses" yells a survivor. "We gotta go and fast" the scout continues. "One of those possessed cock-jockeys is going around destroying pods" "That's all I need to hear. Let's lay down some suppressing fire and move out" Takeshi orders. They moved strategically to the top level of the Staging Bay and moved through the passage leading to Sector-H, returning fire against the demons and former humans as they went. The corridor was wide, cables and large conduits stretched down its length and curved down intersecting paths, smashed maintenance robots lay motionless alongside the corpses of humans and aliens. Every meter they encountered more invaders. Several waves of devilish skulls with tongues of fire charged through the air toward them and erupt against their storm of bullets. They turned down a right hand path and stumble upon a mob of Imps and Demons, the Marine quickly begins tearing limbs from their torsos, ripping into one demon after the other, painting the hall in dripping blood and leaving the survivors in disbelief as the hall vibrated with alien screams. The Marine slaughters the last Imp and they moved on. After a couple more minutes of fighting they soon had a clear path to the outer rim. Something suddenly occurs to the Marine. In the brief gap from combat, he asks broadly, "Are there anymore survivors on the station?" "Actually, there are some survivors in a Data Storage Vault in the Central Processing Facility. Sector-B. They're trapped inside." Takeshi recalls. "You plan to go after them? It's a bit distant" another survivor asks. The Marine remain silent in thought, weighing his chances. I can make it, I know it. He decides to himself. They walked into the ring and the survivors wasted no time assembling into the escape pods on that level and trickling down the access staircase to the other pods below deck. "I'm going after them" he states. "You're braver than I am, Marine" Takeshi states, pausing at a pod's hatch."I've gotta know, how did you manage to fight like that? It's unbelievable" "No idea, my instincts are taking over. I woke up from an artificial hibernation just recently and I have no idea how I got there" the Marine explains. "Sounds like a classified project, possibly genetic testing. It doesn't happen often, but the UAC won't think twice about breaking laws to further their agenda" Takeshi offers. "This squad has had about all it can take, we've lost a lot of friends to these freaks. If you're really going after them, then you should know that the reactor probably has a little less than two hours before the radioactive gas will leak. You need to secure your escape by then, because you won't survive the initial flood of the gas" Without saying another word, Takeshi ducks into the pod. "Good luck, Marine" he says, then closes the hatch. The Marine studies a nearby station schematic posted to a wall, finds the most direct route to Central Processing before moving out. Outside the base, several escape pods undock from the station and are launched into space. Elsewhere, in Central Processing Administration, the emergency rescue squad lays defeated. Their bodies were scattered in close reach of each other on one side of the long rectangular common area, along with the charred remains of aliens. Their armour held cracks and gaping holes that revealed charred, smoking flesh. A pair of the fallen squad had been dragged to the centre of the room by large-jawed demons who were making disgusting blusts of noise from their feasting on the disgraced marines. The disturbing smacks and slurps of the gorging Demons rouses Major Sergeant Martinez from unconsciousness. Knowing the danger undoubtably surrounding him, he stays perfectly still. He found himself on the cold floor with one his marines strewn atop him. He allows his vision to restore, then quietly takes inventory of his equipment, he still had his pack stocked with energy cells, but couldn't find his plasma rifle. He peeks out from his place on the floor and scans the area, carefully taking in everything he could see. He sees his dead and mutilated squad, the large-jawed demons were in view. He sees only one plasma rifle that wasn't smashed or overloaded, lying on the hexagon floor tiles just behind the foul beasts. Silently, he reaches into his pack and readies a magazine of energy cells He slips out from under the corpse and sneaks toward the armament with one delicately placed step at a time. He closes on the rifle and lifts it from the floor. Standing barely a meter away from the demons, he carefully extracts the magazine and sees that only three rounds remained. Gripping both at once, he almost drops the empty canister trying to insert the new one. Martinez reloads and confirmation tone rising in pitch emits from the rifle. The demons made a curious grunt and turned toward the sound, Martinez fires point blank at the pair, turning them to finely textured, smouldering ashes. He allows himself a sigh of relief, there didn't seem to be any more aliens nearby. His eyes were inevitably drawn to the sight of his squad, they were mauled by Imps and missing limbs or heads. The image of their motionless bodies becomes permanently etched in his mind, fuelling his fury. He drops his pack onto a desk and retrieves the armour shards from an inner pocket, he snaps them twice into four section and applied them to damaged spots on his armour. The nano-tech shards reform and patch the damage. During the repair, he finds his data-disc computer. He activates it and sends a signal to the USM Hurricane. Disturbingly, the ship did not respond. He uses a homing scan and received a signal from further out in Mars' orbit, the ship had somehow undocked and moved away. Chapter 9: Chapter IX - Logic Core Compound In a sub-level maintenance sector, a small repair robot was sitting on the square tiled floor, patiently putting the finishing touches on its self-repair. It rejoined the intricate fixtures of its right claw and reconnected it to the end of its arm and fastened it into place, the robot then flexes the repaired digit. Satisfied, it makes some happy sounding beeps and rolls away to find purpose, but unfortunately found itself in the path of the Marine. *CRUNCH* He moved quickly through the dark twisting corridor, not allowing the demons in his way to slow him down. Imps and Demons appear around him from flashes of green portal energy, the ones that weren't ignored painted the walls from precision shotgun blasts. The portal energy blazed throughout the area, spewing aliens in greater numbers as he rushed through the crimson coloured, conduit strewn hall. Reaching a long stretch, a skeletal demon with cybernetic hardware embedded on its shoulders and chest teleported at the opposite end of the passage. The demon launches a pair of rockets toward the Marine, he lifts the assault rifle and intercepts a rocket with a single burst. The rocket explodes a safe distance away and engulfs its twin projectile. The Marine begins marching swiftly toward the Revenant, the demon let's out an ear piercing screech and fires another pair of rockets. Unafraid, the Marine continued, gaining speed. The missiles approach and the Marine skids under the left projectile and continued to race toward the Revenant. He accelerates to a full charge and begins making small leaps with each step before a last big jump, the Revenant reached back its bony fist. With both boots extended the Marine stomped the demon into the cold floor, shattering its cybernetic hardware and ribcage instantly. The oozing demon dies vomiting gore. The possessed Chief Administrator was in a security office not far from the Marine. He was watching several surveillance feeds at once with black angry eyes, he had used his top level clearance to reroute the dwindling emergency power to the system. He stared, calmly enraged upon discovering his lost prey, the escape pods drifted weightlessly on the holographic screen. The Former Human continued to study the images and sees the Marine rushing through the sub-levels, he knew where he must be heading. From another window on the holographic monitor, he sees another marine, blowing through rows of demons with a plasma rifle. The Former Administrator's mouth watered with demonic bloodthirst. He approaches a security cabinet and opens it, within was a suit of security armour and helmet with a tinted visor. Major Sergeant Martinez was in the Auxiliary Memory Control Room downloading the main station computer logs and critical corporate files, he acquires the data which nearly maxed out his storage unit. He then selects the files and deletes any trace of them from the system. He completes his task and treks back to the main corridor, where he would then head to the Data Storage Vault. Immediately, he was confronted by more hell-spawn, glowing plasma lit up the claustrophobic area, leaving chunks of smouldering gore behind. As he moved through the bending path, he notices a mild pain forming in his mind, like a thorn sticking in the front side of his head. He was confident he knew what the cause of the pain was, it was an attempt by some invisible demonic force to possess him. It was annoying, but seemed as though he was immune. After cooking a wave of large-jawed demons, he stops in his tracks. He was sure that he had come this way a short time ago, he wondered if he had managed to go in a circle, or if his mind was playing tricks on him. The area was a twisting, interconnected hall filled with suites housing various modules of system hardware. He studies his data-disc's Automap and continues on, but it's not long before he loses his way again in the maze of paths. He eventually manages to make his way to the main corridor and finally makes some headway, more hoards of aliens in his path were burned to chunks of smoking meat as he marched the wide, spacious path. It led through a large chamber, part of the outer maintenance access for the Logic Core Compound. The cavernous space had shining, black metal plating along its surfaces and held a spattering of opaque columns comprised of thick coiled cables. The tall ceiling held large uniformly placed lamps throughout. A pair of staircases provides access to a second level, a few small crates were on the second level and some large crates were below. Martinez steps further across the compound, the area's chilly silence was unnerving. He hears the distant sound of corse breathing from somewhere ahead. At that time, the Marine was climbing a service ladder close by, he reaches the main level and enters a passage leading to the Logic Core Compound and stumbling upon the path of Martinez. Martinez is alarmed. Assuming the Marine was another former human, he opens fire, letting loose a stream of plasma into the short hall. The Marine dives to evade, then returns fire, Martinez moves for cover. The Marine storms around the bend, Martinez strategically cut across the main path as they exchanged plasma and bullets. A BFG round nearly strikes the Marine as he pursued Martinez, sailing between them, down the path and explodes in the distance. The Marine looks toward the shooter and sees someone in a suit of security armour racing between columns, gripping the BFG 9000. The outer chamber of the Logic Core Compound was now roaring with combat. The Marine outruns a stream of plasma and climbs to the second level as a bio-force round erupts at the base of the ramp. Martinez cleared his magazine and began reloading his rifle with another pack of energy cells, he then dives into a short alcove as another BFG round explodes close by. The Marine persues the Former Human from above, he reaches the edge but doesn't see anything below, cautiously he steps back, then a BFG round just out of his reach explodes against the edge of the platform. The Former Human goes dashing across the main path, barely clearing a stream of plasma in the process. The Marine jumps onto a crate then to the other side of the platform, he then charged to the far side to swing around again, as he crossed, a BFG round slipped by him and collides against the wall close beside him but he had already cleared the blast radius before the round exploded. Martinez was following the movements of the Administrator when the Marine dropped from above and back-handed Martinez into a big crate, taken completely by surprise, Martinez crumpled to the ground, dazed. The Marine could tell he wasn't possessed, just paranoid. He could smell the familiar odour of foul death upon the masked combatant. The Marine charged into the area ahead, the former human was on the main path meters away. Another quivering bio-force round sailed toward him, he moved to the other side of a crate to shield against the explosion. The Former Human was shoving another energy cell pack into the BFG as he stalked closer. The Marine circled back, the former Administrator fired a round through a tight passage between crates but misses. The Marine took aim at close-range from the corner of a crate. A shell explodes in the chamber and sails toward its target, the round shattered the left side of the Former Human's security helmet. The Marine quickly stomps forward. The Former Human was dazed for only a moment, a empty canister clanks to the ground, his nimble hand was already gripping a fresh energy cell pack. The Marine pulls back and throws a kick as the magazine locks into place. The Marine lands a blow on its skull before he could fire, the Former Human was thrown from its feet as it crashed to the floor, the BFG 9000 slips from its grip and slides to the floor. The Marine pumps his shotgun before making sure it was dead Chapter 10: Chapter X - Cracking the Vault The Logic Core Compound had fallen silent, Chief Administrator Alexander Burvochov's mortal remains lay mutilated, drenching the tiled floor alongside spent shotgun cartridges. The inscrutable Marine bent to collect his prize after reloading his weapon. The huge armament was still warm, exhausting heat from vents along the sides and top of the weapon. Targeting overlays and power levels were displayed on small monitors. The weapon was clearly a prototype, it's design barely had any consistency. It was a brick with a wide barrel, covered in baffling technological modules, cables and conduits. He studied the various icons and gauges on the control panel, taps a command to turn the firing mode to 'safe'. He walks over to where he left Martinez, he was already gone. "Alarm" reports the station computer. "Critical reactor failure; containment fields at eighty percent" The USM Hurricane's engines burned brightly as the ship moved to escape the Red Planet's gravitational field. A demonic growth was covering parts of the outer hull. On board, demon occupied every level of the vessel. The transport holds were well beyond capacity, strands of bloody inexplicable growth stretched through every module of the ship. The bridge was veiled in shadows, several terminals displayed corrupted images. Sitting in a throne-sized chair in front of the primary control station was the possessed Pauline Wolf. She studied the navigational and engineering data with black eyes and an emotionless expression, while stroking the leathery skin of a large-jawed demon. The large holo-monitor was partially corrupted, blocks of black squares obscured an image of the Earth, turning slowly. The estimated time until arrival was eighty-four hours. Major Sergeant Martinez was close-by the Marine, he was marching the main corridor while studying his objectives, being displayed in the holographic light from his Data Disc. He was finding it difficult to keep his mind clear, rage was building and giving way to demonic influence. The thorn in his mind had returned, he couldn't stop the sensation of mental energy being tapped. I can fight this, he silently repeated to himself, staring at the characters before him. COVERT CLASSIFICATION: ZULU TOP PRIORITY OBJECTIVE: A-001 RETRIEVE SAMPLE OF STUDY AGENT STUDY AGENT CLASSIFICATION: BSK-01 LOCATION: ALPHA, BIO-MEDICAL LABORATORY B-4 Within the Data Storage Vault, Hugo Manning, Louis Osborne and Diane Stone evade attack from the teleporting intruders as Major Ivan Daniels sprays streams of bullets from the chaingun. The Major was drenched in sweat from fighting off unending waves of hell-spawn, the number of intruders has steadily swelled. Fear gnawed Daniels' nerves as his ammo supply dwindled. Time for them had just about run out when, miraculously, the sound of sliding locks came from the vault door, one after the other, the three barriers cracked and withdrew into the walls, they were still covered in demonic blood. The Marine squeezed through the still narrow opening and charged into the vault. "Fire in the hole! Get behind me!" The Marine shouts. The survivors run toward him, Major Daniels took effective cover. The Marine's BFG began charging his only energy charge pack. It released a green blob of quivering bio-energy, it narrowly misses a Demon and impacts aliens in the centre of the horde. Instantly, every demon in close range was consumed in the flash of energy, eyeballs popped and blood vessels boiled as they withered into large, small and tiny chunks of charred meat that fell to the ground. "Did somebody order a rescue?" the Marine asks, shouting. Major Daniels couldn't believe their luck, he approached and the Marine shoved an assault rifle into his hands. Dr. Stone peers through the bloodstained vault door and sees the bleeding ripped torsos of demon littering the hall, reaching back as far as she could see. "Can we make it? Is it safe?" Dr. Manning asks, apprehensively. Ominously, the station alarm echoed through the chamber. "Containment fields at seventy precent" it sounds. "Where's the rest of the rescue team?" follows Dr. Osborne "I never encountered a rescue team. Like it or not, I'm the best chance you have. I can lead you out of here, but it has to be now" the Marine explains. Diane Stone's facade hardened. "I need to recover my research, we've made a consequential discovery and it cannot be lost" she suddenly demands. The Marine could see the serious sincerity in her eyes. "Is it close?" he asks. "Yes, it's just down this hall" she says pointing down the corridor leading to the vault. "Okay," he casually blasts a teleporting Imp with his side arm, "but let's not waste any time" he says. He leaves through the vault and leads them down the hall. Diane, being ever-observant, scrutinizes the call-number on the back of the Marine's helmet and sees the numbers ground away. She gasped in shock. She had forgotten all about their controversial test subject, weighty consequences were racing through her brilliant mind. They all turned toward her, she was openly aghast. "What is it?" Louis asks. "This Marine is our test subject" she reluctantly admits. The Marine gives her an angry sideways glance. "I can explain along the way, we need to get out of here!" she pressed. They continued along, the marines on point blasting the aliens in their way. "You were the recipient of an unknown genetic strain, it was grafted to your cells quite recently. I shouldn't be telling any of you this, but things are clearly out of hand" she explains. "Why can't I remember who I am?" The Marine asks with a controlled anger in his voice. "This is all upper-management's doing, they wiped your memories with technology that I don't even have access to. They know they're committing a felony, so they erased your identity, processed you for testing and claimed you were kicked off the station for insubordination" she recalls. The Marine was furious. "How do you know all this?" he asks. "It's known among members of the research project. Union Aerospace is pretty lousy at keeping secrets" she spills. "My office is just ahead" Diane says. The marines entered first and scanned for demons, they wasted a pair of hiding Imps before signalling the all-clear. Diane strode into the spacious research office, an examination gurney was surrounded by three cluttered worktables, another door was on the other side of the room. Diane activates the computer and begins copying the many research documents onto sets of data sheets, they continued spewing from a separate module as she stepped toward the genetics workstation. She retrieves a black, leathery carrying case from under the table and plucks slim test-tubes from their holder and secures them within the carrier. "This research you're collecting is from the same project, isn't it?" She puffs her breath, annoyed. "It is" she admits flatly. She then walked back to the computer and shoved the documents into the case. "Alright, let's go" she says, lacing the carrier over a shoulder. They turned to leave and Major Martinez suddenly appeared, blocking their exit and with his rifle raised at eye-level with the Marine. Chapter 11: Chapter XI - Leap of Faith "What are you doing in this lab?" Martinez asks mildly, steadily holding his plasma rifle. "It's my laboratory, I'm collecting our research" Diane explains impatiently. A troubling shade of black was seeping into the Major's eyes. "Well, what a coincidence" he says in a sinister voice, "I've been ordered to secure a sample of study agent known as BSK-01" Diane stares at Martinez with angered defiance. "You have it don't you?" he says to her, voice slithering. His eyes grew darker, he was slipping into possession before their eyes. Diane remained silent. The Marine knew that Martinez wouldn't listen to reason, he quickly thinks of a plan. "Alright. You want it, you got it." The Marine says, he turns to Diane and gives her a reassuring wink before taking the carrier. Seeing no alternative, she hands it over. He turns to face Martinez, his eyes had turned pitch-black, expression fixed and cold. The Marine steps toward him and offers the research. The Former Human hastily reaches for the bag and the Marine grabs the rifle. He wrenches it from its grip and tosses the carrier behind him, it lands at Dr. Stone's feet. The energy cell magazine drops from the gun after Martinez counters, but the Marine manages to swiftly stash the armament. "Go" the Marine shouts, holding back Martinez with his bare hands. Diane grabs the research and Major Daniels presses them toward the back exit. They flew into a fast blur of exchanges, they crashed, brawling, through the lab's door and continued their melee on the adjoining path. The Former Human's previous training and experience made him an even match for the Marine. Each blocked and evaded blow was lethal, every move was critical. Major Daniels led the survivors through the infested passages, the closest escape modules were all spent. They moved deeper through the complex, Daniels killing everything in their path. "Alarm. Reactor leak, containment fields at thirty percent" the station computer wails. Martinez and the Marine had unknowingly fought their way into the blacked-out sector where the Phobos teleporter had still been inexplicably running throughout the incident. Vague reflections and pinpricks of light from hardware monitor LEDs was the only illumination. The station alarm notification echoes through the area. The Former Human lands a grazing blow, the Marine braces against a spike of pain and returns even faster attacks. The Marine then makes a wide kick, forcing Martinez to backflip out of range. The Marine dashes to his zone of impact and they continue to fight, the Former Human was gradually losing ground. Major Daniels efficiently cleared a path through the demons. He was running solely on luck and adrenaline. They reached the next sector and made their way through the main corridor. Daniels was busy firing on a large-jawed Demon when an Imp appeared close by then tackles and slashes Dr. Osborne. The Major swings toward it and fires into its skull, brain splatters against the walls. Dr. Osborne was spraying blood from his neck, his face and arms were mauled from the attack. "I'm sorry, Louis" Major Daniels says, "If we stop, we're dead" They regretfully abandon their colleague. He held his blood-soaked neck, reaching out to them in horror as the hell spawn drew closer to finish him off. Dr. Osborne's tortured screams echoed loudly. Meanwhile, the Marine and Martinez strayed deeper into the blacked-out sector, a dim light from somewhere nearby provides slight illumination. "Alarm. Reactor containment field at twenty percent. Hazardous gas leak imminent" the station computer reports. Fuelled by his growing anger, Martinez's demonic possession intensified. His face had warped before the Marine's eyes, he couldn't be recognized anymore. Every move he made was emphasized by his enraged madness. Their limbs collided in ever faster blurs of movement. The Marine was getting desperate, he had to escape the base. In the Power Plant, the reactor core was obscured by green coloured gasses being held back by the surrounding containment field. Emergency systems were starting to fail causing strain on the field. Powerful jets of gas began to escape and fog the surrounding chamber, bringing with it cascades of deadly radiation. Complete failure was imminent. Major Daniels, Diane and Hugo came to the next escape module and again found it was already spent. "Shit! Come on, keep moving" the Major angrily instructs. "Go this way, it's faster!" Hugo suggests. They take the shortcut and find a mob of demons hiding in a dark corner, Major Daniels shoots a barrel of corrosive acid. It explodes, the demons burst into bits and blood splatters over the walls and Daniels' armour, more blood rapidly dripped from the ceiling. They moved on and cut to the next sector, continuing to the main hall. A terrifying screech sounds through the area. "Crap!" Diane says nervously. "We can't turn back" presses Major Daniels. They moved through a bend in the path and see an intact escape pod in the distance as another reactor alarm notification sounds. They race toward it, a demonic growling filled their ears. They crossed a seemingly empty passage, a Revenant appeared as Dr. Manning passed and stalked toward him. Major Daniels turns toward the cybernetic demon and unloads into its face, the Revenant brushes off the attack. It moved closer then reaches an arm out and grabs Hugo. Its claws slice into his chest and he's whipped off his feet, screaming. It pins him to the cold ground and proceeds to rip the limbs from his body. Daniels and Diane run toward the pod, the demon finishes with Manning and takes aim with its shoulder-mounted hardware and fires a pair of rockets. The survivors were just reaching the pod, the rockets were closing in. They step inside and Daniels slaps the launch command on the control panel. The pod sails into space just before the rockets impacted the module. The Marines were still locked in combat. Hope for escape was slipping away, the odds of finding an escape pod had to be impossible by now. They moved closer to the glowing light, the Marine sees it spilling from a distant room. …the teleporter, he hears Takeshi's voice in his mind. They couldn't shut it down. In that moment, he realized that escaping through the teleporter could be his only way to survive the coming flood of gas and radiation. He sees an opportunity and waits for the right opening. He pulls in and throws precision strikes, leading the Former Human closer to an exposed maintenance compartment in the ceiling. The Marine pushes him closer then grabs his arm and wrenches back, he then grabs a long cable dangling from the ceiling and wraps Martinez's neck, then pulling it tight. He pushes him, struggling and enraged, face-first into the wall and rips away his backpack full of energy cells. Wherever that portal leads, he will be well prepared for whatever awaits. He runs as fast as he could to the distant passage, a final alarm notification sounds. "Emergency. Containment field failure. Lethal gas is flooding the station" The Former Human unwinds the cable from his throat, its enraged scream reaches the Marine's ears from behind, the entrance to the lab was still several meters away. Martinez was charging him from behind, he had no idea if he could make it in time. He skids to a stop at the passage and sees the teleporter at the far end of the chamber being guarded by several demons. He hastily reaches for his pistol and swiftly makes his way through, quickly taking down the Imps in his path. He punches a Cacodemon and sends it spinning across the room, he then out maneuvers a Hell Knight and takes charge toward the tongues of bright portal energy. Martinez enters the test chamber and races toward him. The Marine leaps through the portal and the radioactive gas sweeps through the sector. The gas enters the lab, rushing into Martinez's lungs and he falls to the floor, trembling. His skin began oozing, his eyes leaking blood and puss. The Former Human died, poisoned and cooked from the inside out. In the escape pod, Major Daniels and Dr. Stone studied the information coming from the station, and sees that the reactor gas had spilled. "Damn" she swears. "It doesn't seem like our Marine made it out in time" "I can't believe he did all that for some research" Ivan exclaims."What's so dangerous about it?" "I'm just one of UAC's many rotating specialists, the Marine was the one treated with the study agent" she explains. "If anyone knows, it's him"